When I make art, whatever my medium, I enter an internal world of light and creativity, and I escape the external world of shadow and destruction. While I am painting, I not only live in this light filled world, I create it. In this sense, I have always made art for myself: to alleviate my own suffering and the painful memories of the war and violence I witnessed, even as a child. Yet although this work is therapeutic for me, my finished pieces also ask the viewer to join me in experiencing these beautiful worlds, and celebrating the triumph of light and color over darkness.